At a presentation on April 4th, the City of Victoria was awarded two Certificates of Recognition from the BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA) for the highest standards in occupational health and safety. The certificates were presented to Mayor Dean Fortin and Rebecca Chow, Manager of Health and Safety, by Cathy Cook of the BCMSA.

The Certificate of Recognition program is offered through the BCMSA to municipalities that successfully complete an independent audit of occupational health and safety and “return to work” practices. The City participated in this audit last fall. Staff were selected randomly from all departments, and at every position level, for safety audit interviews. The City received 92% on the Health and Safety portion and 88% on the Return-to-Work portion.

“I’d like to extend my gratitude to our employees for participating in this audit,” noted Mayor Dean Fortin. “We truly believe that safety is everyone’s responsibility, and our ultimate goal at the end of every day is for everyone to go home safe and healthy.”

With this achievement, the City of Victoria became the 9^th local government in BC to obtain both certificates. The end result will not only ensure a safe and healthy work environment for City staff, but will also save the City money through an annual incentive of  an estimated $100,000 for 2012.

On January 24, 2013, seven supervisors from the City of Colwood completed all of the course requirements to achieve the Supervisors Safety Certificate.  A celebration was held at Colwood’s Public Works Yard on March 21st, to recognize this achievement.

Pictured, left to right: Gordie Logan (Colwood City Councillor), Bob Angelius, Dan Bryson, Gord Beauvillier, Mike Skillings, Cathy Cook (BCMSA Executive Director), Trevor Davies, Rob Sophonow, Carol Hamilton (Colwood Mayor)  Missing from photo:  Ross Myles

The Supervisors Safety Certificate Program recognizes those who have invested time and energy into learning the key elements of occupational health and safety from a supervisor’s perspective.   Five courses and eight hours of elective training are required to complete the Program.  More information on the Program can be found on the training & events page:  http://www.bcmsa.ca/supervisor-safety-certificate/

Maintaining your inventory of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) to comply with WHMIS legislation can sometimes be a huge undertaking and a real pain. The BCMSA is pleased to provide a service through 3E Company, for all our members to use.  The program is called 3E Online-MSDS.

The process is straightforward:  You send 3E a database of your existing MSDS, or send them pdf copies of your paper version, or even send them photocopies of your existing MSDS’, depending on your current MSDS tracking process.  If you currently use an online/on demand system, you may be able to get this inventory from them in an excel spreadsheet.

Within 30 days, 3E will create the electronic database of your inventory.  You can then create sub-directories (each location, for instance), and copy MSDS’ to there.  Everyone in your organization can access your MSDS through a simple link on your website. Even while they are building your organizations’ individual database, you have access to millions and millions of MSDS’ through the 3E system. 3E Company has incredibly helpful staff who will step you through the process, if necessary.  Online training in how to use the system is also available.

The cost for this program is very reasonable, and is based on the size of your organization:

Assessable Payroll = Annual Cost
Less than $500,000 = Free
$500,000 to $4,999,999 = $100
$5,000,000 to $19,999,999 = $500
$20,000.000 to $49,999,999 = $800
$50,000,000+ = $1,000

Interested?  Just contact Cathy with the following information:

• Name and contact information of your organization’s MSDS Administrator
• Your assessable payroll for 2012

More information can be accessed on 3E’s website:
http://3ecompany.com/products-services/msds-management/

As you may recall, WorkSafeBC determined that RTW COR was frozen effective January 1st.  Those organizations who registered with us as intending to do RTW COR in 2013, have been approved to do a Certification Audit for RTW COR, within the timeline requested.  Any organization wishing to pursue RTW COR who did not register by the deadline, will need to wait until the program has been opened again to new Certifications.

MAINTENANCE AUDITS
As stated previously, employers already RTW-Certified will be able to do maintenance audits in 2013 and 2014, if applicable.

RECERTIFICATIONS
Employers who will be recertifying in 2013 may use the existing tool, but will have to transition to the new tool/process once it is available.  This may mean recertifying using the new tool prior to the end of their new 3 year certification cycle, or adopting the new tool in the middle of the certification cycle.  Details will be confirmed once the COR working group is further along with the development of a new tool and any auditor training/certification processes that may be impacted.